2012.05.23 - CNN Piers Morgan Tonight - Interview with Slash

Transcript:
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MORGAN: Sex string superstar Slash in downtown New York last night. The guitar god from Guns N' Roses now on the Rock Hall of Fame. He's battled addiction and even Axl Rose. He's achieved iconic stages with the style all of his own. He now joins me for primetime exclusive. Welcome, Slash.

SLASH: Hi.

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: People don't know this, but Copenhagen, the early '90s, Guns N' Roses at the height of their powers, you and I conducted our first interview together. And at the end of it you said, "Would you like a Jack Daniels?" -- which I'd never experienced before. I tasted the Jack Daniels and 12 hours later, you and I were in a piano bar in some god forsaken hell hole hotel still drinking Jack Daniels.

SLASH: Yeah.

MORGAN: And you walked off into the sunset with my favorite jacket, which I never got back.

SLASH: Yeah, I'm not sure --

(CROSSTALK) MORGAN: I thought it was a price worth paying.

SLASH: I would love to be able to find that jacket and give it back to you.

MORGAN: It was blue --

SLASH: But I'm afraid I can not find it --

MORGAN: It fitted me -- it was everything I wanted in a jacket.

SLASH: Right.

MORGAN: But you just took it.

Slash: But at least--

MORGAN: You had about 1,000 jackets.

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: What you told me that night it was -- I have said this many times on this show. It was the single greatest rock performance I've ever seen. By anybody. It was just incredible. Secondly, it was one of the most outrageous spectacles, the whole 24 hours I have ever been party to. Fighting at press conferences, drunken rampaging, it was all -- everything I imagined and hoped rock n' roll could be about. And thirdly, the interview, when I then played it back, was one of the most lucid, smart, intelligent interviews I'd done with anyone for a long time, and it wasn't supposed to be that way.

SLASH: Probably not. I mean, you know, all things considers as much partying and all this that went on in those days, I always tried to be somewhat intelligent when it came to having a discussion with somebody, you know, or an interview or whatever. I did my best, I had my moments, but there were times when I was really out to lunch.

MORGAN: I mean -- talking about out to lunch, I ran to Gregg Allman last night. Another rock legend but he obviously had a lot of problems with drugs and stuff, and I just got the feeling he certainly jumped the shark. Whereas, when I re-interviewed you recently for "GQ" magazine a couple of years ago, you clearly had -- you've come through the whole process, the whole rock 'n roll destructive process. And you've come out the other end, apparently with no damage. Do you feel lucky?

SLASH: I was very fortunate. Because the kind of addiction that I had was something that -- it was a long-term kind of a thing and getting out of that is really a struggle for a lot of people. And some people don't make it out of it. So I was very fortunate that I could finally get it together and prioritize and come out the other end in one piece, so to speak.

MORGAN: We're going to discuss the new album, the new Slash album soon. But I can't not discuss Guns N' Roses. I know that you sort of hailed, it's because although it was fantastic and you sold millions of records and it was so iconic, because of the way it ended, you don't want to sit here banging on about Axl Rose for the rest of your life.

SLASH: Right.

MORGAN: Do you?

SLASH: No.

(LAUGHTER)

SLASH: Yeah, it's a lot of -- a lot of attention put on a lot of negative stuff and, granted, the negative stuff existed and might still exist or whatever. But you know dwelling on that stuff. It's -- all things considered, I left the band in 1996, so we're talking a, you know, pretty long amount of time that I have --

MORGAN: When was the last time you actually spoke, you two?

SLASH: That was 1996.

MORGAN: Do you remember the last words?

SLASH: Um...

MORGAN: Can you repeat them?

SLASH: No, no, it wasn't like that. I think the last word, basically it was just that, you know, "I'm done". I think that was -- that was --

MORGAN: Who said that?

SLASH: Yeah.

MORGAN: "I'm done"?

SLASH: And it really -- it wasn't even ME necessarily leaving the band, it was not continuing on with the new band that Axl puts together that he was now at the helm of, which was the new Guns N' Roses, and I was, you know, given a contract to basically join his new band and you know and I did. It took about 24 hours before I decided, you know, I think this is the end of the line.

MORGAN: What is the single biggest offer you have had to put it all behind you and get back on a stage together?

SLASH: Well, I've heard a lot of numbers --

(CROSSTALK)

MORGAN: What's the most ridiculous --

SLASH: I've never been been, you know, handed a specific offer. But, you know, it's in the --

MORGAN: Seven figures, eight figures?

SLASH: I'd say it starts off with seven figures, yes. And then sometimes, it starts to get, you know, even more grandiose than that.

MORGAN: Is there any check that would tempt you?

SLASH: I don't think it's a matter of that. It really isn't. I think you've got a situation where nobody involved wants to revisit -- it's not just me, it's the whole, you know, the whole band. And so I don't think there's a price tag that anybody's going to put in front of us that's going to make that work, you know?

MORGAN: Let's take a short break. I want to come back and I'll talk to you about what has been the greatest moment for you on a stage. You once hinted that it was a night in Argentina.

SLASH: Right.

MORGAN: With 250,000 people, thunderstorm, steam, November Rain. I wonder if that's still the moment.

SLASH: Um...

MORGAN: Don't answer yet.

SLASH: OK.

MORGAN: After the break. Want to leave on a cliffhanger.

SLASH: OK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Back now with my primetime exclusive interview with rock legend Slash. That's his new single, "You're Alive" from his latest "Apocalyptic Love." We left viewers on a cliffhanger there. What was the moment for you?

SLASH: Well, you're talking about a concert that was in -- I think it was in Argentina, back in the '90s, that I mentioned in the interview we did before, which was when it was pouring really thick rain and there was steam coming off the audience, and we were playing "November Rain" and the timing was such that as soon as we went into the cords of "November Rain" this rainstorm started and just seeing this crowd sort of bouncing in the rhythm of the song and the --

MORGAN: Huge outdoor crowd, quarter of a million people.

SLASH: Yeah. That was -- that was pretty intense. There's a few of them. But that one was very picturesque.

MORGAN: And for someone like me who's never going to come close to that, what is the -- what is the physical experience?

SLASH: The physical experience is there's the energy of the band playing a very heartfelt song, you know, and then you have that interaction with an audience that's reacting to that and it's a huge amount of energy. And it's really -- it's the kind of moment that makes everything that you go through in your career worthwhile because that chemistry, that -- you know, that feeling that's -- you know, communicated between the audience and yourself is something that is overwhelming.

MORGAN: There are people watching this who will be thinking, Slash and Piers could be brothers.

SLASH: (Laughs).

MORGAN: Not many people, admittedly, but there are. And the reason for that actually is because you were born in Stoke-on-Trent in the north of England. Your correct English name was Saul Hudson. Do you feel remotely English?

SLASH: Yeah, I feel very connected to my British roots. I mean, I've got extended family in England, my dad's British, obviously, and I go there all the time and, whenever I'm there, I'm obviously visiting with family and stuff. And I feel very connected. I think it's something that's in the blood where having been born there you feel permanently connected, you know? It's weird.

MORGAN: Tell me about the new album. You have had a very successful career since leaving Guns N' Roses and this is, by common consent at the moment, probably your best work. What was it like making an album as Slash when you could hook in whoever you like, anyone will play with you.

SLASH: I mean, that's not really -- I mean, that's a nice thing for you to say, but as a musician, I'm just out there, you know, trying to put together relationships, musical relationships that are really effective, and it's not as easy as just calling up anybody and making it happen. I have built up a lot of really great relationships over the years and I have played with a lot of great people.

MORGAN: You have played with everyone.

SLASH: Not everyone.

MORGAN: If you were creating a super group, all the talent that you have ever seen, played with, whatever, who would it be in it?

SLASH: Well, I mean, some of those people -- well, OK, if you're about people that are living that I've actually played with before, Iggy Pop is great. He's a great artist to work with. So I'd say maybe Iggy Pop, maybe Lenny Kravitz. That's a tough question. I would have to think about it for a minute.

MORGAN: Who would be your drummer?

SLASH: That's what I'm trying to figure out. Probably Questlove from The Roots. He's an amazing drummer.

MORGAN: No one wants to do this, but who would play the other guitarist to you?

SLASH: It would be cool to jam with Jack White. I have never jammed with him and I think he's amazing.

MORGAN: Talking about Lenny Kravitz, who you mentioned earlier, this is him on my show recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: You actually look quite similar.

LENNY KRAVITZ: Yeah, we could be family.

MORGAN: You could be brothers.

LENNY KRAVITZ: Yeah, yeah.

MORGAN: You do. And he has the same kind of nose rings and the same kind of stubble, and he's cool too.

LENNY KRAVITZ: He's a beautiful person. You know, wWhat you see is what you get. He's honest, he's loving...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SLASH: Wow.

MORGAN: You two really could be brothers. You take the hair and the hat off, and the shades, there you are, twins.

SLASH: That's great.

MORGAN: What did you think of what he said?

SLASH: Well, I mean, that was really sweet. But he's a really great guy. We got to be friends years ago and, funnily enough, we went to the same high school together and I remember him from then because we were two of the only two mixed kids that I knew of in that school. But I was in what you call continuation. And he was in the regular school for the kids that have the potential to graduate and I was one of the kids who smoked cigarettes and don't have much time left at that school. Anyway, but I remember him from then. And we hooked up when he had his "Let Love Rule" album out, which I thought was great, and we got to be really good friends and we actually worked together and wrote a song together. And we've been friends ever since, but he is a great guy.

MORGAN: Let's take another break, but when we come back, I want to talk to you about rock 'n roll excess. I can't think of a finer expert to analyze all the various parts that it takes to be a rock 'n roll legend, which you are. I want to know who, what, when where and why.

SLASH: All right.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Back with my special guest, Slash. Slash, you, basically, you were always a rock star and I have discussed it with you before, but for the benefit of this interview, I just want to -- you've been clean, what, six years now?

SLASH: Almost seven.

MORGAN: Before that moment came and you were leading this crazy life, sort of an archetypal rock star life, was it fun? Because so many people come out of it and go, "Oh, it was terrible. I wish I had never done it".

SLASH: I don't have any regrets about any of it and it was a lot of fun. I think a lot of that whole sort of lifestyle, that freedom of being able to do whatever you want to do and have a good time however you want to do. It is all great. But it catches up with you at some point. You don't see it coming. There's an invisible line that you cross where it becomes the massive addiction thing, physical and emotional, and you become a slave to that.

MORGAN: What was the thing that got you out of it, personally?

SLASH: Being able to look at it from both sides, not being so out of it that I couldn't get some sort of a perspective on it. And you know, it was like going -- enduring the detox thing was something that I didn't want to have to deal with, but, you know, towards the end of it, you know, sort of being very conscious of where I was standing with my music at that point, taking care -- you know, because I didn't have the sort of umbrella of Guns N' Roses at that point. So really it was sort of taking the initiative to get my career under control.

MORGAN: At the height of your womanizing, that's a way of describing it.

SLASH: That's an addiction unto itself.

MORGAN: Well, there you go. You chose to end up hiring a number of hotel rooms in the same hotel, for various women, none of who knew about each other?

SLASH: Right. But that was fun. At the time that was fun.

MORGAN: Expensive, isn't it?

SLASH: It was a little bit expensive.

MORGAN: And yet, oddly, you are now with the same woman you've been with for quite some time.

SLASH: She's a remarkably tenacious woman.

MORGAN: Do you feel like you have met your match with her?

SLASH: Yeah, definitely.

MORGAN: Is that what you needed to do?

SLASH: When she and I first met, I knew that I was hooked when we first met and I tried to keep my distance from her for a long time because I knew once that relationship was seriously established, things were going to change.

MORGAN: How many times would you say in your life you have been properly in love?

SLASH: I would say properly, that was the first time.

MORGAN: Are you good dad?

SLASH: I really try. I mean, I think I'm a great dad, but at the same time, I'm not a conventional dad either, so I'm sort of learning, just as most new dads are, how to do the right thing, but I think that I'm a pretty responsible parent. I think I'm morally sound, so I think I'm instilling the right things in my kids.

MORGAN: What's in the future? What's the unachieved ambition, the dream that's left? Do you have one?

SLASH: I don't have, like, an unachieved dream. I think that I'm still sort of chasing the original dream, which was to make music to go out and make good records and do concerts and tour and stuff. I have done a lot of different things over the years, but what I'm doing right now, is definitely the most fun that I have had in a really long time.

MORGAN: Was it for you a great honor to be inducted into the hall of fame?

SLASH: Yes, of course, it was a great honor. It was something that, once I was there and we were accepting the acknowledgement, that I started to see things a little bit differently. Going into it, it was, you know, I had a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing.

MORGAN: Did you understand where Axl was coming from with his protests about it all?

SLASH: You know, I didn't even really read it. I knew what it was about and I didn't bother to really try and read into his feelings on the whole thing. I was just like -- at that point, I was just confronted with, you know, a decision to make, are we going to go up and play anyway? Or are we going to not go or whatever? And we opted for going and it was a good experience.

MORGAN: Slash, it's been a great experience for me to catch up with you again. It's a great album. Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, "Apocalyptic Love" -- which is a perfect title, I think.

SLASH: You think?

MORGAN: A template for your life. I feel a movie coming on with that. Good to see you again.

SLASH: All right, man. Good talking to you.

MORGAN: Take care.

Excerpts from Blabbermouth:
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Legendary guitarist Slash was interviewed by Piers Morgan on last night's (Wednesday, May 23) edition of CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight". The interview, which aired live at 9 p.m. EDT, touched on Slash's history and his new album, "Apocalyptic Love", and how he has remained a vital artist for almost 20 years after leaving Guns N' Roses.

When asked about the drama surrounding Guns N' Roses and his departure from the group, Slash said (see video below), "It's a lot of attention put on a lot of negative stuff. And granted, the negative stuff existed, and might still exist or whatever, but dwelling on that stuff…. All things considered, I left the band in 1996, so we're talking a pretty long amount of time that I haven't really even focused on that [band]. [I last spoke to Axl] in 1996 [and my last words] were… Basically, it was just that I'm done. And it wasn't even me necessarily leaving the band, it was not continuing on with the new band that Axl put together that he was now at the helm of, which was the new Guns N' Roses. I was given a contract to basically join his new band, and it took about 24 hours before I decided, 'I think this is the end of the line."

On the topic of the kind of offers the classic Guns N' Roses lineup has received to reunite for a show or a tour, Slash said, "I've heard a lot of numbers, but I've never been handed a specific offer. But I'd say it starts off with seven figures and then sometimes it starts to get even more grandiose than that." The guitarist went on to say that no amount of money could possibly bring the band back together. "I don't think it's a matter of that; it really isn't," he said. "I think you've got a situation where nobody involved wants to revisit. It's not just me — it's the whole band. And so I don't think there's a price tag that anybody's put in front of us that's going to make that work."

Full transcript added, taken from here (with some corrections):
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/pmt/date/2012-05-23/segment/01